English Grammar

Moral or Morale? Morale, accent on second syllable, is a noun meaning "a person's mental or emotional state." Moral, accent on first syllable, is either a noun meaning "the lesson from a story" or an adjective meaning "virtuous, behaving according to high standards." Examples: Team morale rose after the no-hitter. The moral of the story is "Never tell a lie." She made a point with her moral and ethical actions. Supposed To and Used To The common expressions supposed to meaning "meant to" or "intended to" and used to meaning "formerly" are frequently misspelled or misunderstood. Both expression are normally in the Passive Voice. This means that the verb is the past participle so it ends with an -ed. Writers sometimes drop the final d because of the t sound which follows it. Incorrect: We are suppose to meet at seven. Correct: We are supposed to meet at seven. Incorrect: I use to read every Hardy Boys book I could find. Correct: I used to read every Hardy Boys book I could find. Good or Well? Good is an adjective. It describes nouns or pronouns. It may be used with descriptive linking verbs like look, feel, sound, taste, or be to describe the subject. Incorrect: The coffee tasted well this morning. Correct: The coffee tasted good this morning. Correct: The pitcher is looking good today. Well is normally an adverb. It describes verbs (sometimes adjectives) and is used with most other verbs. Well as an adjective means "healthy." Incorrect: He pitches good.

Correct: He pitches well. Incorrect when speaking specifically of health: I do not feel very good. Correct: I do not feel very well. (healthy) Anyone and Everyone or Any One and Every One? The compound pronouns anyone or everyone mean "any person" and "all the people," respectively. The non-compound modified pronoun any one or every one put a greater emphasis on the word one and mean "any single person or thing" and "every single person or thing." They are usually followed by a prepositional phrase beginning with the word of. Examples: Did anyone see the eclipse last night? (any person) Did you send for any one of the free samples? (any single thing) Is everyone ready to begin? (all the people) The raccoon ate every one of the ears of corn. (every single thing) Are you learning something new with us? Ante- or Anti-? The prefix ante- means "before." The prefix anti- means "opposing" or "against." Examples: Antiaircraft guns (opposing aircraft) Dred Scott antedates the Civil War. (His case is dated before) Note: The grammar term, antecedent, literally means "going before." The antecedent goes before the pronoun. Anxious or Eager Anxious, like anxiety, implies worrying, or being afraid about something. It means "uneasy" or "apprehensive."

Eager means "enthusiastic." Examples: I am eager to see Uncle George again. (I am enthusiastic, positive about it.) I am anxious about the upcoming layoffs. (I am uneasy, negative about them.) could of vs. could have This is very simple. Im afraid could of is not even a phrase. It is often misused perhaps because it is phonetically so close to could have I wonder if I could have majored in English. Ending sentences with preposition It has also become common to use prepositions inappropriately or to end phrases and questions with prepositions. Examples of some prepositions: at, of, with, in. Wrong: Where are we at with our plans? Where is the movie theater at? Correct: Where are we with our plans? Where is the movie theater? When asking about the location of a place, at should not be used after where. Note: Dont confuse phrasal verbs which make up a huge category in English language and are best described here. For instance, a preposition always is used in the phrase to hang out (where did you want to hang out?) and the verb wouldnt make sense without this preposition. whose vs. whos whose= possessive form of who. Whose plans are these? Whose money did he take? Do you know whose boat we saw the other day? whos= a contraction for who is. Whos going to clean all this mess? She was wondering whos going to dance with her. Do we need to tell them whos going to be there? Easy reminder: You can replace whos with who is every time and see if it makes sense. lose vs. loose lose = a verb, to come to be without something; to suffer the loss of something. I do not wish to lose more weight. I was about to lose my ear ring. She cannot stand the thought of losing him.

loose=an adjective, free or released from attachment; not bound together; not strict. My belt is very loose around my waist. She likes to wear her hair loose and free. That is a loose interpretation of our document. Easy reminder= Lose has come to be without its extra o!!! What's the difference between EXPECT & HOPE? Well, we hope only for what is good; we expect the bad as well as the good. EXPECT implies a greater degree of certainty than HOPE. " I hope he'll come round." "He is expected to come round" "He isn't expected to come round" "effect" and "affect." "Effect" Do not confuse "effect" and "affect." "Effect" is typically a noun, meaning some consequence or result. "Affect" is typically a verb, meaning to bring about an effect. (But note that "affect" also can be a noun meaning emotional expression, and "effect" can be used as a verb to mean to cause something to come into being.) Wrong: The experimental manipulation caused an interesting affect. Right: The experimental manipulation caused an interesting effect. Wrong: The intervention did not effect the behavior of the therapy group. Right: The intervention did not affect the behavior of the therapy group. DIFFER vs VARY Vary can mean differ, but saying our opinions vary makes it sound as if they were changing all the time when what you really mean is our opinions differ. Pay attention to context when choosing one of these words. :: Its vs It's :: "Its going to be sunny tomorrow." This is INCORRECT. Its is the contraction of It is: * "Its going to be sunny tomorrow." This is CORRECT.

"Whats that? I cant remember its name." This is INCORRECT. Its is a possessive pronoun that modifies a noun: * "Whats that? I cant remember its name." This is CORRECT. Another, other, the other Another: another singular non specific countable noun Examples: *. "Let's meet another day." *. "I'd like another piece of cake." The nouns ("day" and "piece") in both sentences are countable and singular (e.g. not with an 's') nouns. The nouns in both sentences are also not specific . This means that the speaker doesn't care which day or piece of cake he gets; he just wants a different one. He wants another one, but he hasn't said (or it isn't clear or important) which one. Hint : If you understand English articles ("a/an/the"), then think of "another" as "an other." You can use "another" before a noun whenever you can use "a(n)" before a noun. The rules are the same. Another = an other! Other other plural or uncountable non specific noun Examples: *. " Other people have problems, too." [people = plural noun] *. "This book has other information." [information = uncountable noun] The nouns in both sentences are not specific , just like with"another". The speaker doesn't specify which other people have problems, or what other information the book has. The rules are the same as "another" except that "other" is used before plural or uncountable nouns. Hint : If we think about articles (a/an/the) again, then remember that we use "other" before a noun that would NOT need an article.

 The other the other specific noun (singular, plural, countable or uncountable) Examples: 1. "I have two brothers. One of them lives in Canada. The other brother lives in Japan." 2. "I go to school on Monday and Thursday. I work on the other days of the week." The nouns ("brother" & "days") in both sentences are specific. Anyone vs Anybody Anyone is the singular version of the word and anybody is the plural version. Both are used to mean any one person. The words share the same prefix, however have different suffixes. Anyone ends in the singular suffix of one and anybody ends in the plural suffix body. Anybody is before anyone in the dictionary, it is between anyone and anyhow. Anyone can be found between anymore and anyplace. Anybody is sometimes considered inappropriate for formal conversations, it is more appropriate for personal conversations. Anyone is universally used in both formal and informal conversation settings. Agree to/ Agree with/ Agree on

Agree to something: Give consent to; accede to Agree to a suggestion, to agree to an action proposed by someone else. e.g: Russia and Spain agree to Cooperate In Energy Sector We agreed to her suggestion Agree with someone/ something: get on, be good for, suit; to approve of it Agree with a person, opinion or policy e.g: The copy agrees with the original. I dont agree with some of the issues they have raised in the rating rationale

Agree on something: To come to terms, as in the details of a transaction, reach agreement on, settle on Agree on a matter for decision, to agree on an action that is jointly worked out; have similar feelings about a specific matter e.g: Democrat Obama and Republican McCain agree on a range of issues that have divided the parties under Bush Major EU states agree on tighter regulation.
Created by: Emran Baloch
Baloch.emran@gmail.com